Lupin the 3rd: Part III 11
Lupin III Part 3 11
ルパン三世 – Part III Ep. 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

An assassin with a reversed pacifier kills a man for Mama, the leader of a crime syndicate called Union. Fujiko works for Mama as a maid. One night, Lupin sneaks into Mama’s mansion to steal the gem, Dracula’s Heart. Lupin steals the ring with the stone in it. However, Mama staged this so she could watch him work. She has the real gem and ring. Mama attempts to seduce Lupin, but his desire for the gem is greater, so he steals it and escapes.

Mama sends her henchmen out to retrieve the stone, as she needs it in 24 hours. Meanwhile, back at his hideout, Lupin explains to Jigen and Goemon about the stone. Apparently, Union Mama is 300 years old despite looking in her 20s. Once every 100 years on Dracula’s birthday, the Dracula’s Heart gem produces a drop of blood that grants youth and life for 100 years. Lupin wants in on that.

Union henchmen attack the hideout with an armed helicopter and men on the ground. The trio flee, but eventually, Lupin gets separated from Jigen and Goemon. After a brief encounter with Zenigata, Lupin manages to escape. Mama is unhappy, so she dispatches Fujiko to retrieve the stone. Fujiko attempts to seduce Lupin, but he realizes Mama has seduced Fujiko. To that end, Fujiko gets the gem and escapes.

At the mansion, Mama starts the ceremony to get the drop of blood. Fujiko asks for a drop and her request is granted. However, Mama offers Fujiko as a sacrifice to Dracula, who lives in a portrait that comes alive every 100 years. Mama knows that Fujiko is actually Lupin in disguise. However, before they can kill him, Jigen and Goemon come in for the rescue. Lupin gets rid of the blood, causing Mama to die with her seduction spell.

Thoughts/Review

They dive into the supernatural with Lupin the 3rd: Part III 11. I did some research and apparently, the Mama character came from the source manga. However, in the manga, she’s just a crime boss whereas in this anime episode, she’s a somewhat immortal crime boss. I say somewhat because every 100 years, she has to undergo a ritual to get another 100 year extension.

That aside, I think I like the supernatural version of the character better. You have some rich, young, seductive woman who builds a crime syndicate by seducing and enthralling skilled folks to work for her. While Lupin may have sent Fujiko in to spy for him (where she fell to Mama), Mama used that to try to snare Lupin in her web. I like that his desire to steal Dracula’s Heart was so great, he resisted her spell.

As an aside, Mama returned Lupin III Part 5 episode 2 and episode 3. However, she was not immortal there. Frankly, her character was so minor and uninteresting to me in the series, I didn’t even note her name.

Finally, for some reason, the official subtitles call Mama “Mommy” (’cause “reasons”). Her actual title is Union Mama. But then the subtitles changed Union to “Syndicate”. Why? It makes zero sense, but no doubt, some “localizer” thought they needed to rename the character to something similar yet completely different.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Part III 11 ended up being a pretty interesting story. Zenigata only gets a brief cameo. Goemon and Jigen are just used to bail Lupin out. And Fujiko is also a plot device. Yet despite this, I rather enjoyed the story.